Infectious Disease Expert Makes Chilling Prediction For States Reopening Amid Pandemic

Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm warned that the states starting to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic will pay a big price later on.

Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN s Jake Tapper on Thursday that states like Georgia, Colorado and others that are easing social distancing restrictions were putting gasoline on fire.

I think right now, this is one of the things weve learned, if were going to learn to live with this, then you just dont walk in the face of it and spit in its eye, because it will hit you, said Osterholm.

And I think that thats a really important issue right now, he continued. When we have transmission increasing, when our hospitals are not able to take care of it and we dont have enough testing to even know whats going on, then thats not the time to loosen up.

Osterholm suggested it was the worst example of how to start this discussion about the loosening of society.

I wouldnt do it, he added. I fear that these states will have to pay a big price later on because of what theyre doing.

Check out the interview here:

\"We have to have, as a population, the same discussions about not just how were going to die with this virus, but how were going to live with it for the next 16 or 18 months,\" infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm tells @jaketapper. \"This is not a battle, this is a war.\" pic.twitter.com/Dd5agDCkPp

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"We have to have, as a population, the same discussions about not just how were going to die with this virus, but how were going to live with it for the next 16 or 18 months," infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm tells @jaketapper . "This is not a battle, this is a war." pic.twitter.com/Dd5agDCkPp
The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) April 23, 2020

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